The Shepard Chronicles: The Collectors
by Iron-Gear Serpent
Summary: After the loss of Shepard and the destruction the Normandy, everyone went their separate ways. But now the galaxy is in danger again, and it's time to bring back the hero of the Citadel. Only this time, the lives of the crew, the team, and all of humanity are at stake. Is Shepard up to the task? Or will the Collectors be left to harvest all of humanity?
1. Prologue

** This started out as just a few words in my head but they just repeating over and over again. And then I finally heard this little voice in the back of my, for days, kept saying, "Write a fanfiction!" So now I'm finally doing it, though instead of starting off with the first game, I'm deciding to start with the Mass Effect 2, where all the fun happens. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

The Normandy flew silently through space, like a breeze on a seemingly windless day. Tali, as usual spent her time in the engine room studying the massive drive core, the stealth systems, and occasionally conversing with Engineer Adams. Garrus spent most of his days upgrading his rifles or calibrating the Mako's torrents. Wrex spent most of his days brooding in the corner, though he did occasionally share some of his stories with Shepard. Kaidan spent his days going over staff reports on the crew deck, and Liara spent her time in the back of the medical bay going over all that she had learned after the failed Reaper invasion while Dr. Chakwas went over stock and medical reports and, very often, reminding Joker to take his medicine through the comm. Navigator Pressley, Joker, and a few support staff were in the bridge. They were looking through reports of human vessels going missing in the cluster.

"We haven't seen anything in this cluster for days," Pressley said, "There's nothing out here!" Joker hit a few buttons on the holographic board. "This is where those ships went missing, so there's got to be something."

"My money is on slavers. They're all over the Terminus Systems."

"Scanners have picked up an unidentified vessel," a woman interjected. "Doesn't look like any ship I've ever seen," Joker observed. "Probably a geth ship. We can send somebody out here to take care of it," Pressly stated. The woman didn't take her eyes off the scanners. She messed with the controls to get new data. "The ship has changed course. Now on interject dejectory." Joker peered out the window and looked harder at the ship coming right for the Normandy. His mind immediately started to work. "That's not the geth." He started messing with the controls and getting the ship ready to move. "Everyone brace for evasive maneuvers!"

Joker made a hard U-turn which threw everyone who wasn't strapped to a seat or hanging onto something fly across the room. Tali fell down and skidded across the floor of the engine room along with the other engineers, Garrus smacked into the Mako, and Wrex fell flat on his face. Kaidan and Shepard were lucky enough to be close to something grabbable and, for the most part, stayed where they were. Not so soon after the drastic U-turn, the eerie ship fired a great big beam at the Normandy. The Normandy evaded for a few seconds but then was hit in one of the main engines.

The damage caused to the Normandy traveled through the systems and blew up Pressley's station, instantly killing him. The woman got up to check on him, but her station blew up as well and severely injured her.

Down on the crew deck, Kaidan runs past the mess area, now engulfed in flames along with the rest of the ship and down the hallway of sleeper pods, where Shepard is. She puts on her breather helmet, grabs a fire extinguisher, tosses it to Kaidan, and then grabs one herself. Kaidan gets to work on the fires nearby. "Will the Alliance get here in time?" he asks. "The Alliance won't abandon us. They'll be here."

"Joker's not leaving the Normandy. I'm not leaving either."

"Kaidan, I need you to round up the crew and take them to the escape pods!"

"But-"

"Kaidan, go!" The Normandy violently shook once more which threw Shepard from the middle of the hallway to the wall and Kaiden, who had a better sense of balance, only stumbled backwards a few steps.

He looked to see if Shepard was okay, but he was stopped from asking by the feeling of the Commander's hazel eyes staring sternly at him behind the tinted visor of her helmet. "Now!" Shepard commanded. She didn't have to yell like most people trying to take charge, what Kaidan had seen her do while she was in action and how she led the team made him give in and follow her orders.

Kaidan ran down the hallway and made his way to the elevator where he bumped into Tali, Engineer Adams, Wrex, Garrus, the requisitions officer, and only one other of the engineer staff. There were supposed to be five in total, including Adams. Dr. Chakwas and Liara came up behind him, looking a little bruised and weary, but she was fine. Kaidan pointed to another hallway and yelled over the explosions and alarms. "Get to the escape pods, now. Be quick! Make sure to get any of the injured on your way," Kaidan felt his heart wrench for what he was about to say, "Leave the dead behind." The group ran down the hallway and Kaidan followed, making sure to yell orders to those still around and leading them through the safest paths.

As people were getting into the escape pods, they made sure to fill every pod before launching. Kaidan stood at the entrance of one of them and helped people into the pod. One of the janitor staff ran down the hallway as fast as she could run, but an explosion blew and threw her across the hallway and she let out a terrible scream. Her neck rammed into a pipe on the wall, breaking her neck and killing her. Kaidan's heart stopped for a second and then started up again when his own survival instincts kicked in and he entered the pod. He hit the button to shut the door and the pod took off.

Back on the Normandy, Shepard made her way to the main floor of the ship. Everywhere she passed had nothing living to speak of. That meant everyone alive made it to the escape pods. Now all who was left was her and Joker. Shepard opened the door at the top of the staircase and all of the oxygen from the crew deck was sucked into space. It was only because of Shepard's mag-boots, which held her to the metal floor, that she wasn't sucked into space too. But the magnets were strong and the lack of gravity made it difficult to move properly. So Shepard was forced to walk her way to the bridge.

She passed the galaxy map, which was now in ruins, and she pushed small debri out of her way. Scraps of metal were scattered all over the place, floating and drifting throughout the dying Normandy. Shepard felt the vibration of an explosion nearby shake her entire being. She looked up and saw one of the engine wings had been completely torn off and its engines were still shorting out. More explosions shook Shepard's body as she neared the cockpit. Some chairs where the flight staff used to sit had broken free of their support and flew freely within the bridge. Normally the metal chairs would be too heavy for Shepard to move by herself, but this was space, and everything was weightless. She merely had to give them a light shove to move them.

Then she saw the cockpit. From the look of things, Shepard guessed that Joker had sectioned off the cockpit from the rest of the Normandy. What sectioned the cockpit looked like a thin, glowing yellow veil. They created an emergency mass effect field that gave the area some gravity, but it didn't keep the oxygen in.

Shepard passed through the veil and felt a small amount of gravity hold her down and her mag-boots turned themselves off. She could now move freely. Shepard ran to Joker's side. He was wearing an SR-1 beanie, his uniform jumpsuit, and an emergency breather mask. He mumbled to himself as he worked tirelessly at the controls. Shepard grabbed Joker's shoulder but he still worked at the controls. "Joker, we need to go!" Shepard yelled over the alarms and jumbling status reports coming from the comm. "I'm not leaving the Normandy. I can still save her!"

"Joker, the Normandy is lost," Shepard stated, the images of the broken ship flashing through her mind. She saw the proof herself. "Going down with the ship won't change that."

Joker stopped working the controls. It was hard to let his feelings go. "Yeah, okay," Joker gave in, "Help me up." Joker's Brittle Bone Disease made it hard for him just to go to the bathroom. Joker always denied other crew member's offers to help him make a more disabled friendly environment, but he was wishing for one now. An explosion bursted behind the two, which got Shepard a little anxious. She pulled at Joker's arm and forced him out of the chair. "Ow, watch the arm!" Joker whined. Shepard didn't respond, she merely rushed them both to the escape pod for the cockpit. Shepard opened the door and helped Joker inside.

Another explosion bursted from the cockpit, but this one turned off the emergency gravity and shook the bridge. Shepard was tossed away from the escape pod towards space. She caught onto the wall that held the launch button. "Shepard!" Joker cried out. Shepard acted quickly, she hit the launch button and then the pod was gone. Another explosion wrenched the wall out of Shepard's grip and she was sent flying once more. She rammed into a wall before she was sent out into the void.

Shepard watched the Normandy fall to pieces. The explosions shook her heart. All she heard was the sound of her own breathing and her heart racing in her ears. She took two deep breaths to calm herself down. That's when she heard it, the last thing anyone wants to hear when they're out in space: she heard the oxygen leaking out in a fierce rush from the tube that connected her helmet to her oxygen tank on her back. Shepard panicked. She lurched backwards and tried to reach for the tear in a desperate attempt to plug it. Nothing, no matter how hard she tried, it didn't work. Suddenly, she couldn't breath. No matter how hard she inhaled, nothing was filling her lungs. Her body struggled to move to a place where air was available, but there was none in space. Then there was a pull, a very strong pull, and her skin was starting to burn. Shepard was being pulled into the atmosphere of a nearby planet. The suffocation made Shepard weak and she stopped moving. She was losing consciousness, but it wasn't the lack of oxygen that would kill her. The last thing Shepard felt was her body in intense searing pain.

* * *

Joker watched Shepard enter the atmosphere of the planet nearby and watched her burn to death. His heart ached. He sat in his seat in the emergency pod crying. He didn't cry, he never cries, but this time he couldn't help himself. He felt responsible. It was only because he wouldn't leave that Shepard was now gone. Joker would sit in the pod until an Alliance ship came to pick up all of the escape pods. There were supplies in the pod to last him about two months.

Joker sat for about two days until a trade ship picked up all of the escape pods, he was the last to be picked up. All that was left of the Normandy crew waited in front of the landing door where Joker exited. They were happy to see that Joker was okay, but everyone immediately noticed that Shepard was not with him. Kaidan knew that she would have been with Joker, but everyone else thought that Shepard must have been within one of the other pods since she was not within their pods. Everyone was very concerned. Kaidan walked up to Joker. "What happened? Where's Shepard?" Kaidan asked. He didn't know why he asked because off the top of his head, he knew. Joker let out a heavy sigh and then a quick huff. The tightness of his chest made it hard to breath. "She's… Shepard's gone. She got spaced and… she entered the atmosphere of a nearby planet. She was burned to death."

Kaidan's heart dropped and his voice was stuck in his throat. The rest of the crew was a mix between non-believing to sorrow. Garrus developed a high respect for Shepard, teaching him that the fastest way wasn't always the way and to control how he responded to situations like Dr. Saleon. Tali, Liara, and Wrex all viewed Shepard as a close friend. Tali was grateful to Shepard after she let her have a copy of the Geth data they had gotten while taking out Geth strongholds, to help her live up to the expectations of her father. And Shepard did more for Wrex than his own family. He had regained his family armor with the help of Shepard, which helped him regain his own personal honor. He had humored the idea of returning to Tuchanka, to do what he didn't know yet. The rest of the crew viewed Shepard as something of a God, after everything she did tracking down Saren and stopping the Reaper invasion. For her to die was a shock.

The trade ship they were picked up in was heading for the Citadel, but they would be passing pretty close to the Migrant Fleet, so Tali made plans with the captain to drop her off. Wrex made plans to hitch a ride on a freighter at the Citadel. After everything that he learned from Shepard, Garrus decided to give C-Sec one more shot. Liara didn't know what she would do. She felt indebted to Shepard. After all, Shepard let her face Benezia. She decided she would start off her new life at the Citadel and then go from there.

But Kaidan, he took Shepard's death hard. They'd fallen in love together, went through Ashley's death together, and defeated Saren together. It's like he had lost a piece of himself. The Alliance heard of the Normandy's destruction and Shepard's death, so it had recalled all Alliance crew and officers for reassignment. So the Alliance has a ship ready to take them back home to Earth to Alliance Command. While everyone waited to get to where they were going, the crew isolated themselves as individuals or in small groups. Everyone knew that all of them would go their separate ways from this point forward.


	2. Chapter 1: Lazarus Part 1

** Wow, I wasn't expecting to already have Favorites and Alerts when I only posted the prologue. That's really cool. Still, I like reviews better. I REALLY like those. I waited until I started Mass Effect 2 again to start the first chapter. In a way, this story is kinda going to be like a log of my gameplay with some more exciting stuff added. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

A figure stood in front of a window peering into the docking area. She was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She had a very attractive figure which was covered by an extremely skin tight uniform, long black hair and cold gray eyes. Her name was Miranda Lawson, the director of the Lazarus Project.

A bald man with a light beard walked up behind her with a datapad in hand and handed it to her. "So Wilson, where was she?" Miranda asked the man as she took the datapad from him. "In the Amada system of the Omega Cluster. The Shadow Broker's agents found her on an uncharted planet. Thankfully the cold and near vacuum atmosphere kept her body from decomposing, for all the good that did," Wilson answered as he and Miranda watched a dark skinned man and some soldiers carry in cryogenic pod with a glass top so that the scientists could determine how to move what's inside.

Miranda squinted as she peered into the pod from the window she was behind. The frost on the edges made it a little difficult, but she saw it. Inside was an N7 helmet attached to broken, charred bones and charred muscle tissue. "Prep the med-bay and give her a full autopsy. I want to know exactly what we're dealing with," Miranda commanded. "But you can see the damage from here. There's really no need to-"

"Now Wilson!"

Wilson stood where he was for a second before taking off for the med-bay to get ready for the autopsy. Miranda walked away from the window with the data pad in hand and looked over it's contents carefully. She put her fingers to her ear to use the communication device. "Jacob, bring Shepard to the med-bay. We're going to do an autopsy." The dark skinned man's voice responded through the communicator, "Sure thing Miranda. I'm anxious to put this pod down; it's heavy and the troops are getting slippery fingers."

"Tell those idiots that if they drop that pod, they're dead."

"I think they already know that. Don't forget that you have a reputation."

Miranda walked through several hallways and doors, winding through twists and turns until she climbed stairs right outside of the med-bay that lead to the med-bay's observation room. She stopped in front of the window and overlooked the room below her. The greatest doctors of many medical fields, including Wilson, made sure to sterilized the room, the equipment, and themselves so the body would not be contaminated.

Outside of the med-bay, the troops passed the responsibility of Shepard onto the emergency first aid squad. They knew best how to move the fragile body to the operating table. One of the medical staff wheeled out the operating table and lowered its height to ground level. Jacob stayed to help move the body onto the table. When they opened the pod, Jacob used his biotics to lift the body into the air and move it over to the table. Everyone made sure not to distract Jacob because he had to be very careful and delicate with the fragile body.

Shepard's body was lightly set onto the metal table and the first aid squad quickly wheeled Shepard into the med-bay. Jacob climbed the stairs to join Miranda. When Shepard's body was wheeled into the middle of the room, Wilson and the other medics pondered where to start. They already knew that Shepard's body had been severely burnt from entering an atmosphere. So Wilson decided to do a full medical scan of the body instead of doing things the old fashioned way. He turned on his omni-tool and hovered his hand over the body several times. When he was done, he sent the data to Miranda's omni-tool and to the computers in the labs.

Then Wilson looked at the helmet. He wondered how they were going to get it off without damaging the brittle body. "Wilson," Miranda's voice echoed over the comm. Wilson looked to the window looming above him where Miranda observed the scene. "Cut the damn thing open. The metal of the helmet won't let us take an MRI." Cold as always. She may have just given orders, but her voice always had that disapproving tone to it. Wilson picked up a reciprocating mass effect bone saw, but being in the 22nd century made sure that that a bone saw could cut through metal easily. One of the assistants helped keep the helmet steady as Wilson cut the helmet down the middle of the face. "Do not damage the skull, Wilson!" Miranda commanded. "You think I don't know that?" Wilson retorted.

When Wilson finished, both he and the assistant readied to pull apart the two halves of the helmet while another assistant stood ready to steady the head itself and make sure it didn't fall onto the hard metal table. When the helmet was pulled away, as Miranda, Jacob, Wilson, and the assistants watched closely to see the legend be revealed, they saw a face covered in charred skin, a cheek completely burned off exposing the teeth, and the face of the woman who defeated Saren and delayed the Reaper invasion.

* * *

Garrus stood outside the executor's office holding in a massive temper. He wasn't just angry, he was furious. Everytime he tried to make a difference, the red tape of C-Sec got in his way, and this time it was stopping him from taking down a drug smuggler on the Citadel. Garrus stormed into the office of Executor Pallin and Garrus made sure he didn't get the chance to tell him to get out. "Executor, why did you stop me? I had him. I was about to catch him in the act and you stopped me." The executor laced his fingers together with his elbows on the table as he answered Garrus calmly but matter-of-factly. "Because, Garrus, protocol requires a warrant to search and investigate in a public establishment. One would think that you know this Garrus, concerning how long you've been with the force."

"There was no one even there to get hurt. No one! The bar was closed."

"And what about the establishment? No doubt that there would have been extensive property damage."

"That bar is owned by the bastard smuggling the drugs!"

"There's also noise regulations and concerned calls from civilians."

"Damn it, Pallin! Those don't matter. As long as no one is hurt, I should be able to do whatever it takes to bring that guy down!"

"Garrus, this isn't up for discussion. Go back to your post."

Garrus looked down at his feet in thought. "No," Garrus responded, "I don't work here anymore." Garrus put the pistol C-sec had given him to use and the badge he was supposed to have on him at all times on the executor's desk. "Garrus, don't quit just because you're upset," Pallin warned. "I'm not quitting because I'm upset," Garrus snapped back, close to shouting, "I'm quitting because you're stopping me from arresting an ass who's making a profit off of people's addictions. I'm quitting because you stopped me from proving that Saren was a traitor. I'm quitting because I'm tired of not being able to do my job." Garrus finally rose his voice at its highest tone, "I'm quitting because you're not letting me make a damn difference!" The executor was taken aback by Garrus' outburst. Garrus stood there for a few seconds before storming out of the office and out of the Embassies.

Garrus felt his skin crawl as he heard the people around him go about their daily lives. Just eight months ago, Sovereign attacked the Citadel. The geth killed many civilians and Sovereign's wreckage tore apart the Presidium, but people went back to their normal lives acting as if nothing ever happened. Even the Council, who Shepard sacrificed a third of the Alliance Fleet to save, said that the threat was over and was an isolated incident. They even dismissed it as a geth attack. Garrus knew it wasn't over, not by a long shot. But Shepard was dead, and Garrus thought he wasn't qualified to lead that kind of job. But he felt he could at least make some kind of difference, and he was going to start with that drug smuggler.

Garrus had spent the last few months following the drug smuggler, so Garrus had some good guesses where to start looking. The last time Garrus eavesdropped on him, he overheard that there was going to be a trade. All Garrus had to do was go to the trade location and wait for the smuggler to be alone so that Garrus could interrogate him.

Garrus hid behind piles of crates that held guns for C-sec, merchandise for store owners, and some held Red Sand, the drug being smuggled. Though officers weren't able to tell which ones, the Red Sand boxes hid in plain sight. Garrus held his Avenger Assault Rifle ready in case any trouble started. He remembered Shepard's lessons well: be patient, all will come in time. Let the enemy come to you and, in large groups, pick them off one by one. Garrus was only after one person, and with that one person, he would cut off that branch of the drug trade at the source. "You him?" a man asked. Garrus knew from the voice alone that it wasn't his man. "Yeah," another man replied. That was him. His voice was low toned, even for a male, and it had a rough rasp, a sign of smoking, something you're not allowed to do on the Citadel.

There was little talking after that, just a few directions to the mercs unloading cargo. After that, one man gave the other a credit chit, containing an unknown sum, and the two parted ways. Garrus made quick work of peeking around the edges of the crates he was hiding behind and catching sight of his drug smuggler. He'd have to wait until they were alone or in a place where people couldn't see Garrus drag him into an ally.

Garrus followed the smuggler for about twenty minutes until he finally caught the smuggler alone. Garrus ran full force at his target and whammed the smuggler on the back of the head with the butt of his gun. The smuggler wasn't knocked out, but his world was spinning enough that he lost his balance. Garrus grabbed the smuggler by the collar, dragged him across the hall, and bashed him into a wall. If the smuggler thought he was in trouble before, he figured out he was in worse trouble with an assault rifle aimed at him. "So tell me, where did you get your supplies? It's pretty hard to get Red Sand in Council Space," Garrus asked. While Garrus questioned the smuggler, he got a good look at him. He was a human wearing a beanie, an engineer's outfit, and had a slight scruff around his mouth. The smuggler moaned off the dizziness and the pain. "I can't tell you anything! That would ruin my credibility." Garrus pounded the barrel of his gun several times into the smugglers face. Shepard wouldn't approve of such brutal tactics, but it wasn't like Garrus was going to kill an unarmed man. "Wanna see what I can do to your face? That could ruin your credibility with your men seeing as how you're getting beaten by a lone turian." Garrus pounded his gun into the smugglers face a few more times for good measure. The smuggler's face was starting to swell and his nose was bleeding profusely. He fell to the ground groaning in pain. "Alright," the smuggler submitted, "Okay. Just stop!" Garrus squatted down to the smuggler's level and got in his face. "The supplier is on Omega. He works for the Blue Suns. They're all over Omega."

Garrus stood up and the smuggler regained his bearings as he used the wall to steady himself as he got to his feet. "See, now was that so hard?" Garrus teased. The smuggler rubbed and wringed his hands together nervously. "So, what?" the smuggler asked, grabbing Garrus' attention again, "Can I go now? Am I free to go?" Garrus pinched his chin in thought. "I could, but I could also turn you in. Seems pretty reasonable to me." So Garrus made up his mind and he gave the smuggler one final bash to the head with the butt of his gun.

Getting a ride out of the Citadel wasn't so hard. Garrus knew exactly who to talk to to find out which travelers were going to Omega. Once he knew, he made a deal with the Volus who owned the vessel. Garrus offered to be the Volus' bodyguard for as long as he was going to be there in exchange for the trip to Omega. Garrus didn't like making himself a gun for hire, but at least he wasn't killing others for money. Besides, it was a fair exchange. Garrus knew he would need all the credits he had to survive on Omega. He'd also have to keep those credits from being stolen.

Garrus followed the volus onto his small trading vessel, putting on a show for the other Turians already aboard by holding his rifle like the trained soldier he is. And everyone knew how he was one of the crew that stopped Saren, so that gave him some extra points. The hangar door closed shut with a hiss and Garrus felt the ship leave port. They were headed to Omega.

Once the vessel made dock at Omega, Garrus followed the Volus merchant everywhere as his bodyguard. "Never thought I'd be doing this kind of job, "Garrus thought to himself. Omega was a dirty place no matter where he went, and no matter where he went he saw species not seen in Citadel space. There were so many Vorcha that Garrus lost count, Batarians too. And here, Krogan went wherever they wanted without trouble. The Turians were more or less the same as anywhere else, except that most didn't have colony markings, barefaced. Socially that meant that they couldn't be trusted in Council Space, but Omega didn't care about stuff like that. Everyone there knew that everyone couldn't be trusted.

Garrus saw everything from smuggling to murder on Omega, but again he couldn't do anything because of his contract with the Volus. It irked him. He didn't have a contract binding him at the Citadel, so he just quit. But he made an agreement with the Volus, and Turians had this sense of duty when they make a deal. So Garrus stayed with the Volus and ignored the crimes around him, bothering him as he did. One year, that's all he needed to wait for. After that, he could do what he wanted.

* * *

Deep in the void of space, a fleet of ships cruise slowly across an uninhabited star system. Many of them looked to be fixed and improvised, and a few looked to be ancient. A small cruiser entered the small star system. The person inside made a connection to one of the fleet's ships and spoke. "Neema, this is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya requesting permission to dock." Another voice on the other side of the comm link responded, "We can't identify your ship, Tali'Zorah. Please identify." Tali knew this paraphrase well, the Conclave, more specifically the captain of the Rayya, gave that phrase to her to prove that is was her when she returned to the fleet from her pilgrimage. "After time adrift the open stars, among tides of lights to shoals of dust, I will return to where I began," Tali recited. Tali waited for a moment until the voice responded, "Confirmed. Welcome back to the fleet, Tali'Zorah."

Tali expertly navigated the ship into one of the Neema's docking bays. "The ship is not clean. Requesting a cleaning crew."

"Request approved." Tali docked and a bridge attached itself to the door of the ship.

When Tali entered the Neema, a cleaning crew rushed past her and into the ship. And then a handful of the Neema crew, those who worked directly with the captain, came to greet her. "Welcome aboard the Neema, Tali'Zorah. From what we hear, you did some interesting things while on your pilgrimage. I believe that some of them involved fighting geth and saving the Citadel." Tali wasn't too surprised, information travels fast in quarian ships. Share one juicy rumor, and the entire flotilla will know it within a day. "Yes,"Tali responded, "As well as gain some interesting data to present to the captain to end my pilgrimage."

"Follow us, Tali. And you might want to know that your father happens to be on the Neema at the moment. He was about to leave when your arrival was shared with the crew. I think he has decided to stay to see what you have brought back to the Flotilla." This surprised Tali. She wasn't used to her father being around, he always had something to do, something keeping him occupied. She followed her escorts to the main bridge where the captain, and Admiral Rael'Zorah, waited for her.

The automated doors opened and Tali followed her escorts up to the bridge. The ship used to be a very old turian vessel, so its design was similar to the Normandy. The commanding officer stood above the crew where orders could be issued without misunderstanding and where the commanding officer could watch over their crew. Where the galaxy map would have been on the Normandy, there was just a platform where the captain of the Neema and Admiral 'Zorah stood. The captain stepped forward and opened his arms welcomingly. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, welcome back from your pilgrimage. It is good to see you safe."

"It is good to be back." The automated door opened again and Admiral Han'Gerrel ran through the open entrance. "Tali, I heard Tali's back," Han'Gerrel gasped. From what one could tell, Han'Gerrel ran all the way to the bridge from wherever he had come from. The Neema was his adult ship, the ship he chose coming back from his pilgrimage. "Admiral Gerrel, it's good to see you again," Tali greeted. Han'Gerrel is a close friend of her father, but he wasn't close enough to Tali to have to recuse himself should she, Keelah forbid, go to trial for something. Gerrel looked around the bridge and saw Rael standing next to the captain. "Damn it, Rael. I didn't know you were on the Neema. Why didn't you come to see me?"

"I was here on business, nothing more. I only stayed because I need to know if Tali brought a gift appropriate to our expectations," Rael explained. Gerrel joined the captain and his friend and invited Tali to stand before them and present her gift.

Tali activated her omni-tool and shifted through it's data. "While I was on my pilgrimage, I met up with a human named Commander Shepard and joined her on her mission to stop Saren Arterius, a spector who had gone rogue." Tali found the data she needed and slowly hovered her hand in front of her father, the captain, and Han'Gerrel. Their omni-tools activated and the quarians observed their devices curiously. Then Tali continued. "During the mission, we worked together to stop the geth from making a stronghold in the Armstrong Nebula. We eventually found their base of operations and found this: records of the geth's evolution and upgrades in very explicit detail ranging from software to hardware."

The captain and Gerrel could not stop looking at their omni-tools. To them, Tali had exceeded the already high expectations by finding such detailed data on the geth. "This is amazing, Tali!" Gerrel praised. "Indeed, I don't know what I was expecting, but if someone said beforehand that Tali was going to get information like this on the geth I wouldn't have believed it," the captain added. But Rael stayed quiet, observing the data. Tali waited anxiously for him to say something. Gerrel looked away from the data and noticed Rael wasn't praising his daughter. "Rael, say something. Your daughter has finished her pilgrimage with something that the our people haven't had since our exile. She deserves something from-"

"It's alright," Tali interrupted, "I already know what I've accomplished."

Rael turned around and made his way out of the bridge, still looking through the data. Tali watched him go, feeling a little sad. She didn't feel like she deserved anything, but she knew she earned something at least. Tali softly hung her head. "Tali," Rael called. Tali looked up. Rael stood in front of the automated door, his upper body twisted around so that he could look at his daughter from where he stood. "You did well. Very well." With that, he left and he disappeared behind the automated door. Tali felt her spirits lift. Rael really only educated her in exceeding what was expected of her. This was one of those few precious moments when he praised Tali.

"Well then," the captain started. Tali turned her attention to him. "Welcome to the Neema, Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya," Gerrel finished. Gerrel turned to the captain. "I will look after getting Tali situated in her new home and getting her her new suit. You make sure she makes it into the ship's records," Gerrel commanded. The captain saluted and did as he was told.

Tali followed Gerrel around the Neema. He occasionally pointed out areas that Tali either would be interested in or she needed to know. Considering her talents, her recent experience with the geth, and her combat skills, Gerrel guessed that Tali would be good at recon missions. They traveled down a narrow hallway littered with doors. Turnian ships were known for narrow hallways and big rooms. The quarians made sure to use every inch of space they got. They squeezed as many families into the large rooms as possible and used the smaller rooms as either homes or storage.

Gerrel opened a door which allowed two rambunctious young men to run out, bump Gerrel into the opposite wall, and chase each other down the hall. Han'Gerrel steadied himself as he grumbled. "Sorry Tali, but this is one of the only rooms with available space for one person. Looks like you'll have to deal with two roughhousers." Tali certainly wasn't looking forward to that, but she wasn't about to complain. She walked through the doorway and, like many other quarian homes, was a cramped space housing multiple families separated by large quilts hanging from lines strung from one wall to another. There were also multiple quilts padded against the walls to buffer any sound inside the room. From the looks of those boys, there was a lot of sound to buffer.

Two quarian women and one man looked up and saw Tali. "You must be the new addition," one of the woman noted. The other woman drew one of the quilts which revealed an empty bed, a few empty crates, and a large crate at the end of the bed. "I'm sorry you only get the small corner of the room," the other quarian woman said. "No, it's perfectly fine," Tali replied, "It is just me after all."

"Well Tali, I'll leave you to it. You should go to change into your new suit soon. You bring your old suit to me, I'll take care of it. I'm pretty close by. You pass three hallways, take a left, and I'm the fifth door on the right," Han'Gerrel explained as he pointed in the direction where he lived. "Okay, see you later then," Tali acknowledged. "See you later Tali."

Tali sat on her new bed alone. She remembered the last time she said "see you later". It was the last time she saw Shepard. Tali pushed the memory into the back of her mind and decided to look for her new suit, the suit that marks her as an adult and crew member of the Neema. She opened the crate at the end of her bed and pulled it out. It was similar to the one she had on, it just had a few extra features. More pockets for if she left the Flotilla, extra protection, some upgraded systems, and so forth.

The door burst open as the two boys who bumped into Gerrel ran back into the room wrestling each other. The two women in the room yelled at them to stop. From the sound of things, they were they're sons. The two boys didn't stop however and one threw the other in Tali's direction. The boy thrown whammed into Tali and she was squished between the young man and the wall. Tali pushed him off roughly with a grunt making him stumble to the middle of the room and bump into his friend, both tumbled to the floor. The man in the room, most likely the husband of one of the women, looked at Tali, surprised and amused. "Looks like we don't have to worry about the boys giving you too much trouble. Looks like you can take care of yourself very well." Tali huffed her anger out and then relaxed. She was going to have to get back into the swing of things. The Flotilla wasn't like the Normandy at all. She had to share space again, but this time with two boys instead of another girl and Shala'Raan and her family.

The boys gazed at Tali in a stupor. They figured out that if she wasn't going to yell at them, she just might make them stop by force. They both got to their feet and quickly ran out of the room. The man laughed. "Did you see the look on those boys faces. I don't think they'll risk being toppled to the ground again, much less being thrown." Both the women shook their heads and one of them mumbled "Keelah". Tali grabbed her new suit, which she had dropped, and stormed out of the room and made her way to the nearest clean room. She bumped into the two boys on the way and they ran before Tali could say anything. That made her feel a little bit better.

Tali found the clean room after asking several other people where it was. When she found it, it had an electronic sign stating that it was vacant. It was the equivalent to a change room. Tali stepped in and locked the door behind her. She first had to wait while the room and herself were decontaminated. Even when in a clean room, it was risky to step out of the envirosuit. It took about ten minutes for the total decontamination process to be complete. Another door opened in front of Tali and she continued into the clean room. It was white everywhere. White walls, floor, ceiling, and bench. Occasionally the cleaning crew came in to clean the clean room. The white surfaces were to make it easier for them to spot anything obvious.

Tali sripped herself from her envirosuit, unplugging wires, tubes, and turning off any systems running. When she had gotten everything off, she had only the skin tight unitard-like suit that every quarian wore under their enviro suits. Tali set her helmet on the bench next to her and slipped on her new suit. It was skin tight, like her other one. She slipped her helmet back on and plugged in all the plugs and tubes that the suit needs and turned on the suit's systems. Tali made a triple check that everything was running and she didn't miss anything. Once she was sure, Tali left the clean room itself. She had to close the door to the white room so that is could be decontaminated for the next person to use. Then Tali left the clean room altogether.

Tali had a difficult time finding her way back to her quarters. She spent so much time finding the clean room that she had forgotten to remember the path that she had taken. Tali wandered around until she found someone who wasn't busy to help her find her way back to the living quarters. When she finally found the living quarters however, all the doors looked the same. And to make things worse, she hadn't asked for the names of those she was going to be living with.

Tali wandered around a bit more until she found the two boys. They were again rough housing in the middle of the hall and a few other young adult quarians watched the fight and cheered for either one or the other. Tali walked to the fight and got in the middle. The two boys stopped and the others ran away in fear of the adult quarian. The two boys were about to bolt out of there as well, but Tali grabbed them both by the shoulders and kept them from running. "Hold on, you two!" Tali demanded. The both of them struggled to get loose but Tali had a firm hold on them. "What's your problem?" one whined. "Come on, let us go," the other begged. Tali jerked hard on their shoulders which flipped them around to face her. "I'll make you two a deal: you show me the way back to our living quarters and be my little guides and I'll leave you alone. Deal?" The two young men looked at each other. "Yeah okay, fine," one submitted. Tali let them both go. "Come on, it's this way."

Tali followed the two boys to their living quarters. "This is it," one pointed out as they stopped. "By the way, I'm Prazza and this is my friend Vash."

"I'm Tali, nice to meet you," Tali responded. Tali would have to remember that it was Prazza who whammed into her. "So, uh." Tali turned her gaze to Vash. "Did you just come back from your pilgrimage?" Vash asked. "Yes, I did."

"Prazza and I will be going on ours in six months." So these boys weren't as young as Tali had initially thought. "Well, thanks for showing me the way. Sorry for throwing you, Prazza."

"Sorry I mashed you into a wall." Tali waved good-bye to Prazza and Vash as she followed the directions that Gerrel gave her.

The other crew members of the Neema all gave her congrats as they walked by Tali and some gave her a pat on the shoulder. Tali knocked on the door that Gerrel told her to go to after she changed into her new suit. The door opened and a woman appeared behind the door. "Oh, it's you," the woman stated cheerfully. "Gerrel, your friend is here. You said something about her coming over."

"Oh no," Tali interrupted, "I'm only here to drop off my old suit." Gerrel appeared in the doorway and he opened the door wider. "Thank you, Tali. The captain has given you today to get settled in. Tomorrow you'll be given a full tour of the ship and assigned to where you'll be working. With your technical expertise, I'm guessing that you'll be assigned to the engine rooms or something until someone gets a bright idea and sends you out for research missions." Tali handed over her old suit to Gerrel and he tucked it under has arm. "Have you introduced yourself to your roommates yet?"

"Only to the boys who bumped into you."

"Well, you should introduce yourself to their parents as well. The women are part of the medical team. They're sometimes called to the med ships for emergencies, but officially they're stationed here. I know Prazza's father, he served with me in the Heavy Fleet. Vash's father died two years ago while scouting on a mission close to the Veil. I never got the pleasure of meeting him." Gerrel exited his shared home and waved good-bye to Tali. "Be seeing you Tali. Take care of yourself." He turned around and walked down the narrow hallway to the trade deck. He planned to get Tali something to welcome her to her new home.

When Tali entered her new home again, Prazza and Vash's mothers were tidying up their living spaces. Both looked through their own belongings to pull out which things to keep and which to trade. Prazza's father sat on the family bed along with Prazza lecturing him on being aware of others. Probably because of today's roughhousing. Vash was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, hi Prazza," Tali chimmed. "Hey Tali," Prazza responded. Prazza's father looked a little confused. "Prazza whams you into a wall, you throw him into Vash, scare them out of the room, and now your greeting each other like you're friends? Did I miss something?"

"We made a deal. If they show me around the ship and don't mash me into anything, I be nice to them," Tali explained. "Yeah, it seems like a fair deal," Prazza agreed, nodding his head. "No roughhousing in the quarters?" Vash's mother pointed out. "Keelah, why couldn't the boys do that sooner? Do you know how many complaints we've gotten because of them. Everything from noise to causing a public disturbance," Pazza's mother added. "Don't worry, ladies," Prazza's father interjected, "I'm sure their pilgrimage will get all that energy out. We just have to wait." While they were talking, Tali made her way over to her part of the room and closed the homemade curtain. she was happy that she could have the day off to relax. She lied down on her bed and made herself comfortable. She let out a relaxing sigh and closed her eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

The toxic air would kill most aliens not native to the planet, but not Krogan. They were well suited to toxic environments. That's why they were the only ones who could chase the Rachni to their homeworld and wipe them out to extinction. At least until Shepard spared the last Rachni queen on Noveria. That was one of the two decisions Shepard made that Wrex didn't quite agree with. The other was blowing up the potential cure for the genophage. But  
Wrex was willing to forget the first and see how the latter progressed.

Wrex had taken up another job as a mercenary, sent to a toxic world with other Krogan to clear out some killer pests wrecking an automated mining facility. Good work, but nothing as exciting as going after a rogue specter hell bent on releasing big ass synthetics that harvest all advanced civilizations. But Wrex's mind wasn't really on the job, and that's what worried him. He knew being distracted was what killed people in his line of work, but those conversations with Shepard kept replaying in his his head. "Don't you want to help your people?" she asked him one day. "Of course I want to help my people," Wrex said to himself as he stalked a Klixen around a corner and blasted it with his shotgun, "But no one can help a lost cause, not even her." But Wrex personally saw a difference in the Krogan he's been fighting with in his recent jobs; the Krogan that survived Saren's little fiasco looked more in control of themselves. They were free, made their own decisions, even if those decisions were just to raise their paycheck.

All of the other Krogan hired all converged with Wrex at the entrance of a cave. Even an idiot would know that the Klixen nest was in there. Wrex counted the Krogan around him. Including himself, there were fifteen, more than enough to handle the entire nest.

All of them charged in like a stampede and shot everything on more than two legs. Bug guts splattered the cave walls and the bug shells crunched underneath heavy Krogan footsteps. For that brief moment, Wrex's head was clear. No complicated thoughts or memories ran through his head. All that he was focused on was the Klixen that he shot full of holes. But it didn't last, with fifteen Krogan, a fight with a small Klixen nest only lasts for a few minutes. After that, it was time to collect their paychecks and Wrex was left to deal with his thoughts again. "Don't you want to help your people?" he heard in his head again as he entered his own ship. Wrex growled as he tried to block out the memory. He started up his ship and got it up in the air. "Don't you want to help your people?" repeated again in his head. Wrex slammed down on the dashboard of his ship. "Damn it, Shepard!" Wrex pulled up the coordinates of Tuchanka to head back to his home planet.

* * *

"You're finances and payment have been approved, Miss T'Soni. Please enjoy your new home," the Asari clerk recited as she left the large apartment. Liara observed her new home. It was empty, still requiring someone to move in all of her new furniture and items. Only the current necessities had been moved in upon arrival: a bed, kitchen utilities, a couch and a TV. The only personal thing Liara had right now was a picture of the Normandy which she held in her hand at her side. Liara was used to being alone before Shepard had saved her from the invaded and collapsing prothean ruin. Now, she wished for some sort of company. After she had given Shepard's body over to Cerberus, Liara was anxious to hear Shepard's voice, to see her face, to feel her friendly hand on her shoulder again. But Cerberus cut all communications with Liara T'Soni. She couldn't get any updates on the progress of her friend's resurrection.

But Liara had her own problems to deal with now. She had gained a foothold in the information business and made her headquarters on Illium, an Asari controlled planet near the Terminus Systems. In the information business, Liara had to have as little information leaks as possible, so she hired an Asari named Nyxeris to assist with non priority assignments and to typical clerk work while Liara can focus on more important assignments. Her goal for everything that she was gathering, information and resources, was to find Feron. He saved her. She owed him for saving both her and Shepard. "The Shadow Broker will pay!" Liara thought to herself, clutching the Normandy's picture to her chest.

Liara let out her stress in a single heavy release of breath. Tomorrow she would start expanding her list of contacts to Illium, and the first day is always one of the hardest when taking on new contacts. She would have to gain access to as many personal files as she could and then narrow those down and then narrow them down again, sometimes another time for sensitive fields.

Liara walked up the stairs to her second floor that served as her bedroom. There sat her bed without a bedframe and an empty nightstand where she placed the picture. Liara missed her time on the Normandy. She missed Joker's humorless jokes and his witty comments. She missed Wrex and his stories. She missed Garrus and how he spent his time calibrating the Mako's gun. She missed Tali and her conversations with Engineer Adams. She missed Kaidan and the way he used to look at the commander. She missed Ashley and how she called shooting geth "target practice". She missed Dr. Chakwas and the way she helped her. And she missed Shepard. The way she commanded the battle field, her understanding and caring personality, her indifference about race, her eagerness to learn about different species, the cypher she acquired on Feros, her strength of will surviving the transfer of information from the prothean beacons, her determination to save the galaxy from the Reaper invasion. There were so many things Liara missed about the Normandy; there were so many things she missed about Shepard.

Liara stared longingly at the picture for some time before she finally lied down and went to sleep.

* * *

Back on Earth, Kaidan Alenko sat on his bed in his family's vacation house just off the beach. He was alone, his father and mother downstairs having lunch. He had had his an hour earlier. Everything was different without Shepard or the Normandy. No one to share adventures with that the other could actually understand and share their own story, no complaining about the food together, no aliens around, no Joker, no Shepard.

The Alliance gave Kaidan some leave until they could figure out what to do with him and rest of the crew who survived the destruction of the Normandy. Six months and they were still sorting through all the paperwork. When Shepard sacrificed a third of Admiral Hackett's forces to save the council, that left a lot of casualty reports and letters to families to write. He didn't really know what to do with himself. Eight months ago, Kaidan was organizing and filing crew reports and going out on ground missions. Now, there was nothing to do. No amazing goal, no aliens to argue with about how to file a report on an Alliance vessel, no Shepard to talk to and flirt with.

Kaidan ran his hands down his face and sighed. "Shepard wouldn't want you to honor her by feeling depressed. She'd want you to move on," Kaidan whispered to himself. He heard his father and mother laughing downstairs. He looked down at the carpet on the floor in thought, debating in his head. Then Kaidan pushed himself off the bed and tromped down the stairs. He remembered how Shepard could walk through the Normandy like a ghost, never making a sound. He recalled several times that she had snuck up on him and scared him out of his wits. The others experienced the same thing. He recalled Ashley telling him that Shepard scared her while she was testing the weight of her assault rifle and she dropped the damn thing on her toe. "How does she do that?" Ashley always asked. And then Garrus had an incident where he slipped and bashed his head into the side of the Mako. The way he told it, Shepard wasn't there one second and then there the next. "Not easy to scare a turian, even harder to make them lose their footing," Garrus had commented. Dr. Chakwas seemed to be the only one who Shepard could not sneak up on. Kaidan was about as silent as a wailing siren and ten-thousand blow horns. Still, quieter than Wrex.

Kaidan tromped down the stairs until he made it to the dining room where his mother and father were eating their food. "Hey guys," Kaidan greeted with as much happiness as he could muster. "Oh hey, Kaidan," his mother chimed. "Mind if I join you?"

"Of course, Kaidan. You don't have to ask," his father responded. Kaidan pulled out a chair from the dining table and joined his parents. He spent the rest of the night enjoying the company of his parents, something he hadn't done in a while. And for the first time since the destruction of the Normandy, he was getting to a point where he could be at peace with himself.

* * *

Back on the Lazarus station where Shepard was being revived, Miranda was in her office with Wilson. They finished up their conversation and he left. Miranda stroked her chin in thought for a while. She turned on the laptop on her desk and accessed the VI. "Record," Miranda commanded. "Recording," the VI responded in its monotone voice. A red circle appeared at the top right corner of the screen and Miranda saw herself on the digital screen. "Test subject has been recovered, but the damage is far worse than we initially feared. In addition to the expected burns and internal injuries from the explosion, subject has suffered significant cellular breakdown due to long-term exposure to vacuum and sub-zero temperatures. Despite the extent of the physical trauma, Wilson assures me subject is salvageable. The Lazarus Project will proceed as planned."


End file.
